Royals option O'Hearn, Newberry, Lovelady

KANSAS CITY -- The Royals continue to narrow down their 26-man roster ahead of Opening Day, optioning first baseman Ryan O'Hearn, right-handed reliever Jake Newberry and lefty reliever Richard Lovelady to the alternate training site on Tuesday.

All three had solid springs. O’Hearn hit five home runs and posted a .934 OPS, Lovelady posted a 2.08 ERA across 8 2/3 innings and Newberry struck out 13 batters in 10 1/3 innings.

But the Royals are facing a roster crunch and are deciding what players will get the final few spots on Thursday, when they host the Rangers at Kauffman Stadium for the first game of the 2021 season.

Reliever Wade Davis and infielder Hanser Alberto were added to the roster this week, making the 40-man roster full as of Tuesday. Right-hander Ervin Santana, who could fill a swingman role in the Royals’ bullpen; lefty Jake Brentz, who throws 100 mph out of the bullpen; and outfielder Kyle Isbel, who is at the top of the list for the open spot in right field, are all in contention for an Opening Day spot and will need to be added to the 40-man if they are selected to the roster.

For now, O’Hearn, Newberry and Lovelady will head to the alternate training site in Springdale, Ark., home of the Royals’ Double-A affiliate, to ready themselves to help the Royals out at some point this season. Teams are allowed to have an alternate training site for the first month of the season until the Minor League season opens on May 4, and this year, the site will function more as a Triple-A team rather than a spot for prospects to continue their development, as was the case last year with the Royals’ 60-man player pool for the shortened season.

Royals assistant general manager of player personnel, J.J. Picollo, said there will be 27-32 players at the alternate training site for the next month, starting Friday with the first official workout.

“Our approach last year was to have guys who could definitely help our Major League team, and we also wanted to use spots for guys who were prospects because that was going to be the only way we were going to develop them throughout the year,” Picollo said. “Last year was very different. This year is more of a season. … Our prospects are going to be down here in Arizona. Who we have at the alternate site is not necessarily who we have on our Triple-A team come May 4, but it’s very representative of that.”

The Royals are also permitted to play other teams this year -- much different than the three-month long intrasquad schedule that greeted the Royals last year. While they have to be at Northwest Arkansas when the Royals are playing at home, when the Royals go on the road with the five-man taxi squad, the rest of the alternate site will be able to travel via bus and car to play other squads.

The current schedule includes games in Louisville, Ky., against the Reds and in Columbus, Ohio, against the Indians from April 5-11, as well as games against the Rangers in Texas later in April before dispersing to their Minor League teams to start the season.

“It’s a major difference between last year and this year,” Picollo said. “It’s good for our players, good for development. You need to get at-bats, you need to face hitters in different uniforms. It’s a much-improved alternate site concept.”

While players on the cusp of the Majors settle into Northwest Arkansas, top prospects like Bobby Witt Jr., Asa Lacy, Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez will remain in Arizona to prepare for the Minor League season.

Starting Wednesday, the Royals’ top prospects in Major League camp will combine with the Rangers’ top prospects to field a team that will play against other combined teams -- like the Reds and the Indians -- on the west side of Phoenix. Those games will help continue the build-up of players who have been in Arizona since February, and once Minor League Spring Training games start on April 14, they’ll play the normal schedule.

“There’s more at-bats, more innings, more consistency in Arizona,” Picollo said. “We’re calling it a co-op league or schedule, I should say. It’s kind of an instructional league concept we had a few years ago. We called it advanced instructional league, where the Rangers and the Royals were a team, Seattle and San Diego were a team, complexes joined together. It was kind of for your High-A going to Double-A prospects, and we would just play like a 25-game fall schedule. So it’s similar to that.”